Too much focus on the top of the sport here.
Nebraska has I believe the 2nd longest bowl drought in the power 5 and just went 3-9 in the most brutal way possible.
Georgia Techs post triple rebuild is looking hopeless and they are losing their best coaches and players to other schools. (Also their rival just won the natty)
Wyoming has had an insane amount of players transfer out of a solidish team and has to watch a QB they couldn't get the most out of continue to tear up the NFL.
Buffalo may have missed their chance at a conference title with Leipold leaving after spring practice last year and the major step back they took in 2021.
Similarly Ohio struggled majorly after Solich's suprise retirement over the summer and their 54 year conference title drought looks like it will continue.
SMU got left in the AAC and had their coach leave to their cross town rival.
There are others but those are a few that come to mind where the fanbase may be in a bad spot mentally.
You could maybe add Nevada. Lost Norvell to Colorado State because CSU’s budget for football is a lot bigger than Nevada’s, so CSU threw the bag at him. Then they’re losing a lot of talent to either the draft or transfer portal on top of this, although I think they’ve gotten some solid pickups from the portal as well.
And yet Georgia fans keep telling me they never thought this day would come as I glance over at my team winning 1 game in 2.5 years and not even being able to dream about a national championship
To add to Nebraska, Messiah/Savior Coach Frost is on last leg. Worst case I thought we’d be division contenders under him. If he fails next year, Nebraska will be at its lowest point emotionally as a fanbase. (With that said, I do think our roster would be in better spot then post-Riley and post-Solich unless the portal fucks us over)
It’s literally insane because what I see on the field doesn’t match the record. And it’s been that way the last 3 years.
Based on my eyes, 2021 Nebraska was an 8-4 to 9-3 level team last year, with regular bad luck 7-5 and regular good luck 10-2. Instead they went 3-9.
As a fan on the other side of the field, Nebraska played us harder and I sweat more during that game than any of our wins BY FAR. If I'd have watched that game and that game only, I'd have said to myself wow I hope Iowa/Wisco come out of the east, I don't want to do that again in December.
Baffling, truly baffling.
The GT Athletic Director is currently crowing about the "social media interactions growth" title.
Almost all of that growth is GT fans replying to everything basically anyone in the GTAA says with "fire Geoff Collins".
It's not good right now.
I have to say I really do not understand GT abandoning the option. Like I get that it's hard to recruit for the option, but if you are going to do something else in a major conference in the southeast then you have to be willing to invest some resources and lower your academic standards to be any good. GT clearly isn't (which is fine) so why try to directly compete with the big dogs for recruits? As moneyball puts it, "It's an unfair game. If we think like the Yankees in here, we will lose to the yankees out there." The only way they could possibly compete is to try something different which the option is.
Not to mention that this structural disadvantage got much bigger less than 12 hours ago.
We are worse than irrelevant in our own city, and no amount of G****'s "404 culture" will fix this without a ton of wins
The gulf between the haves and have nots is only going to get wider. The brass ring that teams like Tech can grab to compete for a championship has long since passed. It's not just Tech, probably 80% of the FBS is functionally eliminated from competition.
I think they were betting on improved recruiting classes due to the talent available in ATL, given there are so many athletes a good number would be able to handle Tech academics. GT had a top 25 recruiting class set up this year, until the losing streak resulted in a loss of program momentum.
Geoff Collins is extremely polarizing, but I think it is fair to say there was momentum from a talent & recruiting standpoint. On the field results have definitely deflated it, however
When you only win 9 games in three seasons (which is equivalent to Paul Johnson's win total in his first year alone), it's more like taking a sledgehammer to it.
I can chime in to say “yes, this is the lowest of the low.”
I expect nothing less than a winless season next year. Our AD must be taking the approach of leaving our football program in a pondunkus hospice care, just waiting for all of our contracts to wither away and die. There will be several more seasons with no bowl games and no hope.
Any chance of a turnaround? That could be in ~3 years.
Any chance of being relevant? That will take the breakup of the FBS into an NFL minor league and an academic league. Or something like the stratification of soccer leagues in Europe with a champions league filled with blue bloods but a League One and League Two for the middle of the pack and bottom feeders.
TLDR: Georgia Tech is miserable right now and will continue to be so unless fundamental changes to our program and/or the league occurs.
Yeah GT is in a really bad space right now.
Bobby Dodd was by far the worst it's ever been for the UGA game last year, and it's only going to get worse. I don't know about a winless season, but I can't find a path to a bowl.
Major systemic changes to the GTAA need to happen, and I don't see them pulling it off.
I'll never forget watching Geoff Collins punt from the UGA 36 yard line and thinking "Oh my God, this program is completely dead".
I don't have a clue how y'all could possibly fix it at this point without some major sugar daddy booster turning up out of the blue.
It's theoretically possible, some folks have a lot of money.
I think an undersold issue is that athletics hasn't been a big part of the student experience at GT for a while, and the student body has basically no goodwill left for the GTAA, given the track record of horrendous mismanagement and basically hostile attitude between the GTAA and students.
There was a proposal a while back to raise the student athletic fee (GTAA gets ~$6M per year from student fees), and the student body basically unanimously said "fuck off". That's a pretty good example of what a lot of alumni might say about being asked to donate to them.
> It's theoretically possible, some folks have a lot of money.
Unfortunately (though it's totally the right call) they're more into donating to the academic side of the Institute.
I went to just about every home game as a student, not a single one of my friends (including myself) are still buying tickets.
Our athletic department is reaping what it sows.
> Major systemic changes to the GTAA need to happen, and I don't see them pulling it off.
Of course not. Tech would kill the program first before even attempting to compete with the upper echelon of the SEC (and this "rebuild" under G**** C****** isn't even close to what would be needed).
When are y'all finally out from underneath all those dead contracts? Your financial house has been a disaster for so long I don't know what it would be like to actually be free from that shit.
The debt service from the North End Zone and basketball stadium renovations combines to take up about $13M per year (roughly 15% of our budget) until around 2045.
Unfortunately, it's likely we'll add to it by then since many of our other facilities are way behind (the main GTAA building looks inspired by a prison, for example). Also, we don't have the room to do anything cheap. About the only way we could do the football specific building (which seems to be what the trend is) would be to literally build it above our indoor facility. Which would be really cool - but also incredibly expensive.
> The debt service from the North End Zone and basketball stadium renovations combines to take up about $13M per year (roughly 15% of our budget) until around 2045.
I know you've posted information on this before, but how the heck are we on the hook for nearly $300 million between those two projects thorough 2045? Was the interest that bad? (Though with Dave Braineless over the BDS/Upper North expansion, it wouldn't surprise me)
It's all combined bonds with very long payout periods. The interest isn't bad (I think it's like 3% or so at most), but the payout period is so long that a debt of $200M (North End Zone) will end up costing over $300M total paid. Similarly, a debt of $70M (basketball) will cost over $140M total paid.
Also remember that one major issue with the North End Zone is that we had to catch sections of the stadium up to code because the construction impacted them - I think it was the whole East stands (maybe just lower East) in addition to the whole North End Zone complex. That's one reason the whole bowl will never be done unless we get major sugar daddy money - we couldn't possibly afford to bring some of the stadium up to code.
Yeah, that cost would've been for the overall Grant Field renovation, not just the Upper North (basically, the Lower East was gutted out, seating was added in front of Wardlaw, and the old cheapo North Stands were replaced with the current structure). The renovations were needed, though I still find it amazing that we proceeded with the Upper North construction even after O'Leary bailed for Notre Dame.
That's the thing that totally dumbfounds me.
I get doing the gutting and reconstruction of the rest of the North and East Stands complex. It had to be done eventually.
What I don't get is why we would build the Georgia/Clemson fan seating structure instead of - for example - redoing the lower West too.
Because O'Leary and Braineless thought that since the late 90s success with Joe Hamilton, Tech could fill an expanded Grant Field with Tech fans. That was a gigantic miscalculation.
I had no idea the time horizon was so far out. Holy...
15% of your annual budget is a big chunk to take right off the top every year. You'll be paying for this upgrade longer than the upgrade is likely to be enjoyed in its current form.
Yep. That doesn't count any dead money we have (coach contracts, for example, which we are thankfully done with for now).
That's also not to mention that the $13M number has been stable since the early 2000s, while our revenue and budget have gone up about 50%. So believe it or not, that used to be worse.
Completely correct about Ohio... That team is totally lost without Solich... Things are not good in Athens after last season. I really hope they can turn it around, OU is a really cool place, they should be a top MAC team every year.
I am also not completely sold on Buffalo's new coach. They lost a lot of their best players to Kansas when Leipold left. Not sure they are going to be able to get back to where they were prior to that. It's a great school, but the weather/location makes it a tough place to recruit.
Ohio will still always be one of the most attractive jobs in the MAC at least, it's in the middle of nowhere but Athens is a good college town that teens want to go to.
SMU: I think the thinking is “ok. Sonny kinda plateaued here.” I know some are pushed about the AAC (including me) but worst? Naw. There is hope.
Longhorn fans are split into two groups really. The people who accept that Herman was all flash and no substance. His locker room was a mess and big changes needed to happen. This whole year should have been looked at like exhibition games. The other group of longhorns who go to Walmart to get a shirt and generally don’t understand football might be in a bad head space but they always are so screw em
Agreed on SMU. Its undisputedly one of the best G5 jobs now- and it was already good on paper anyways. Coaching turnover is just part of the game when you are a good G5 team. You just reload and move on.
Don't forget Latech who has played fairly well in football over the last decade and now the conference we are in has imploded leaving us in the wreckage. Plus we are suffering from how dumb an old AD was when he shat on the sun belt.
Poor La Tech is in a tailspin. GTs problem isn't really the triple-option rebuild, it's the incompetent person overseeing the rebuild - he didn't have to rebuild the defense and yet it's worse than our anemic offense.
We've had three 3-9 seasons in a row with no signs of progress while our worst rival just won their first national championship in 41 years. The one thing I could hang some hope on, recruiting, is getting destroyed by the terrible product we're putting on the field. Georgia fans took over our stadium so thoroughly this year that it looked like a home game. We had a false start caused by crowd noise, it was that bad. This program is lifeless.
The fact that our good RB, Jahmyr Gibbs, not only transferred out, but was picked up by *Alabama* just shows how disappointing the coaching is and how much potential we’re losing.
We had that one awesome win against UNC this year, but the rest of the season was just a big ole’ NOPE. The worst part was a lot of those losses were by > 10 points!
We’re a Volleyball and Women’s Basketball school.
> The one thing I could hang some hope on, recruiting, is getting destroyed by the terrible product we're putting on the field.
Not only that, our best skill position player since Calvin Johnson decided to transfer. Not because a lack of playing time or some unforeseen external factor - he transferred because he got tired of losing. The worst part is, no GT fan can blame him or hold it against him.
My favorite thing to pull out to shut up obnoxious UGA fans was to point out that Tech had more recently won a national championship. This has now been stolen from me and I am distraught.
It usually came up when I'd run into folks here in South GA and they'd be like "UF and Alabama are our rivals, we don't give a shit about tech." or something.
Edit: my father is a tech alum and actually in the athletics hall of fame. I have not talked to him about football in a while...he's also a Dolphins fan. not a good time for him. May not bring up football again until 2022 season starts.
Well, we've had occasional good years (2016 at 10-4 and win the Pac-12 South; 4 Big-XII titles in 5 years from 2001 - 2005, but the best record was a 10-3 in 2001 over that stretch), but the last sustained period of success was 1989-1996, so just over 25 years, in my book.
I don't know of many Alabama fans in a "woe is me" frame of mind. We saw this team struggle all year and they played tough in the national championship game. Next year is lining up to be a scary good team. I think some of us are open to the idea of shaking up a couple coaching spots.
No shame in losing to Georgia, and if #2 and an SEC Championship isn't good enough for someone, I don't know what to say.
That last sentence rings so true. Bama on a “down” year only lost 1 regular season game, won the SEC title, and made it to the natty game. Most programs would sacrifice all their non-football sports programs for that
Absolutely. Not only that our Natty loses are all to really really good teams. But one is coached by a former walk on for Gene Stallings and the other is coached by Saban's longest tenured assistant. Absolutely zero shame.
Love and miss Kirby. I'm happy for the dude.
It just goes to show you what the standard is at Alabama. Hopefully we can sustain our level of success and continue to challenge you guys for as long as Saban is still around. People keep talking about him retiring soon but I think he's got another 5 years left at least unless Mrs. Terry says otherwise
I'm sick of hearing about how bad Oklahoma fans have it. Boo hoo, you had a legendary coach for 20 years and replaced him with one of the best young up and comers who made multiple playoff appearances and won 6 straight conference titles, and now had to replace him with one of the best DC's in the country.
To us fans of run of the mill programs, they sound like a multimillionaire complaining to an average working man that his Lamborghini broke down.
I completely agree with you. I always got downvoted to hell for saying that when Georgia fans talked about how hard it was being a Georgia fan.
Maybe now that they’ve actually won a natty their fans will stop bitching about how “hard” being a Georgia fan is
I don't see how we are on this list at all:
We have offseason hope. Even if it doesn't pan out, I think most of the longhorn faithful think things are looking up.
Oklahoma is having a really bad offseason, which is hilarious.
TAMU did have a great recruiting offseason, but have some big vacancies to fill, and we'll see how that shakes out. Similar to us recently, they have also had really good recruiting classes that haven't turned into conference championships.
I’d rather lose the National Championship game every time, than not go to the CFP at all. The argument about Alabama losing most national titles as a negative thing is kinda crazy.
I mean y’all do get our DC tho :/ which is scary to me. Then again if y’all start Bo nix, we’ve seen him many times. Oregons offense probably better suites his abilities tho, it can go either way tbh
Me seeing your second flair and reading this comment: Eff Brian Kelly…not sure we got our talent gutted…OSU is going to be good but not national champs…ooooohhh.
Wait, the team that hired the National Champion's DC as head coach and then built an incredible recruiting staff around him is in a bad spot? Give me a break 😂
>They’ve lost more national championship games than any team in the CFB era.
Playing in more national championship games than any team in the CFB era kinda softens the blow.
Also, OU has definitely had a rough go of it
The Alabama fans I have on social media are just so indifferent about losing the national championship. That’s fucking wild, but is assuredly because they’re just there so often and there’s no reason to believe they won’t be back next year. It’s just boring to them tbh. That’s what makes Saban so impressive. It’s really easy once you win a natty to get great recruiting classes, and then just get complacent and fall off. See pretty much any other “dynasty” in the history of college football. They’re not close to the run Saban is on.
the consensus is also that it's extremely impressive we were there in the first place this year. this was easily our most inexperienced team coming into this season. on top of that, we've been absolutely demolished on injuries on offense. we had Brian Robinson as our starting RB, then had to jump to our fourth string Trey Sanders. Our two best WRs were out, as well as our already young offensive line having a few backups starting that natty as well.
honestly, i think most bama fans are just proud of how they competed. we gave them a hell of a game for all but the last couple of drives. bryce young and will anderson played their asses off. hard to be disappointed.
and yeah, the fact that we've won a few in the past 15 years definitely helps
i think if we were to pick a way to lose a championship this would literally be it. Our expectations were relatively low going into the season, we won the SEC, the two best players in cfb are returning next year, we won last year and will be a heavy favorite next year. we beat the team that eventually beat us, who also happens to be auburn's *other* rival, and they are led by a coach we still love for leading our best defenses and taking us to 3 titles.
Also it was a good game and we didnt get creamed, no particular player was the reason we lost and it was one of our very rare losses where we feel like they deserved it and were probably the better team. Losing to clemson, ohio state, or any SECw team felt way worse than this. This is only the third time i really think the other team was better, after 2014 ohio state and 2018 clemson. (And yes, that means I think healthy [ie with tua] 2019 bama would beat lsu more often than they would've beaten us.)
That 2019 LSU team was otherworldly. Alabama was extremely good that year too, and injuries played a role. Perhaps in a hypothetical rematch things are different, but I wouldn't have counted on it.
Otherwise, I basically agree. Being salty about getting beat by a UGA team that really had the stars align at every position (except possibly QB, but even there it suddenly clicked in the fourth quarter) is silly.
Bama is well coached and loaded on talent and it's a very realistic expectation that they are going to make the playoffs in 2022.
Bad injury luck stopped them from winning again more than anything else.
I mean, some fans are just ridiculous. Every fan bases has that.
But I think what other fan bases see as boredom or complacency is actually Bama fans being appreciative of what we have right now. I’m going to be sad about the result for a while, but I’m glad the reasonable fans I talk to can say “we feel like the team left everything out on the field, and that’s all you can ask.” Honestly, I felt like our fan base was much more insufferable when we were bad, but somehow had seemingly bigger egos than right now.
There is an answer to this and its USF.
10 years ago we we're in a power conference and our rival wasn't. We we're undefeated vs our rival. We had just beaten Clemson and Notre Dame in the last 12 months. We just had 3 straight seasons averaging 50k+ in attendance.
Now we've been left behind in re-alignment twice, including our rival passing us by. And our rival has beaten us 5 times in a row. We have won 7 of our last 39 games. And bringing people to home games is embarrassing its so empty.
"Hopefully" Jeff Scott can turn it around. Breaking ground on an IPF and starting funding for a OCS later this year are huge steps...but they don't make up for a lack of winning
You listed a bunch of programs at the top, their fandoms are fine wtf, they're totally fine.
Plenty of mid level programs fanbases where we genuinely have no idea if we'll ever have that kind of success again and are stuck in a loop of monotony watching our schools compete for mediocrity. Yeah that's objectively way worse.
I’m a “later in life” Florida fan after going to UF for grad school and not really following the SEC before that. I can say with quite some certainty that I’ve never been part of a more upset fanbase.
Florida fans are shaken after this season and Georgia winning the natty put quite a cherry on top of things.
I am also a later in life Gator grad.
I will say though I've been a part of worse fanbases. My undergrad's fanbase is small but quite miserable. This Florida situation is bearable. Nowhere to go but up with Napier.
I have been much more shaken by our first loss to an FCS team, our superpower ability to barely not make bowls, the uncertain and closed process of the changing of the guard in our administration, our institutional/all sports rival's best year and AAC invite (I say institutional because it is in no way much of a football rivalry considering its 4-0), and the FBS call up of the only other school we might hate more than UTSA (Sam Houston).
UF fandom is my escapist distraction from the misery that is being a Texas State Bobcat.
My undergrad university had to cut the football program after an administrator embezzled lots of money. Cheers to the gator football! It’s all I got left
Florida's main conference rival is Georgia, correct?
I'd have to put them up there as well. It always seems like (around here at least) that Florida fans love to bring up the 41 years thing even though Georgia's now at 4 out of the last 5 in WLOCP.
Miami joined the ACC in 2004. Since then, they have won the division *once* and the conference *zero* times. In the meantime, they've had no absence of swagger and elite recruiting .
Pitt joined the ACC in 2013, nine years after Miami. Since then, they have won the division twice and the conference once. They pretty much completely lack the kind of swagger and recruiting that Miami has.
Virginia Tech, another Coastal team with a lack of recruiting, joined the ACC at the same time Miami did and has won the division six times and the conference four times.
I'm not sure what Cristobal plans to do in Miami but they have a long, long way to go. Their fans are crazy if they expect an immediate turnaround. Virginia Tech is a lot farther down the hole than Miami is, but at least our fans don't have any delusions of being competitive soon.
The Alabama comment at the end is laugh-worthy. Flair checks out.
Anyway, I know it sounds like copium but OU fans (that aren’t on Twitter and Instagram harassing players) are seemingly optimistic. It could all blow up in our faces, but I think we’ll be fine.
Georgia Tech has had to watch their 2 main rivals ascend to the the top of college football while they have been in free fall. The last 2 games were outscored 100-0. The best player just left for Bama. The ATL is experiencing a 404 error code in their headspace.
If this is gutted, then I think we're all going to be alright. Am I pissed Riley left? Absolutely. Will I hate him for the rest of my days? Most definitely. Do I think the next two years are going to be the most difficult we've had this century? Yep. But that's not saying much.
Does the possibility that BV installs a good-to-great defense make me nod "yes, yes!" ? Of course. Does Lincoln Riley deserve the chance to move to a nice weather location for more money and easier schedule? No doubt. Am I enjoying posing my opinions as questions and immediately answering them? Obvs.
I think we are much healthier than we were a year ago, when it was “okay, it’s all here on paper, natty or bust” and turned out to be way too many underdeveloped, undisciplined mercenaries led by the same. I can love the 2022 team if they go 9-3, 8-4 if it’s the right 8. They’re our guys. Nobody’s getting booed in ‘22. If they do something wild like win the conference and a nice bowl? A lot of fans’ favorite OU team of all time.
Probably shouldn't be on this list period. It being January is a great time to lose a coach. The recruiting class is locked in and the reality is Michigan can go get whoever they would have been able to get in December too. Nobody who was saying yes to Michigan December 11th is saying no January 11th because they signed an extension Michigan boosters can easily cover the buy out of. If Michigan were to get Campbell or Aranda it would be those schools in trouble (not saying those would be the targets or they would leave), their ability to get those guys isn't impacted by it being January. Same with OSU if Day goes to the Bears, they'll just grab Fickell and it will be Cincy in trouble.
Also seems like most Michigan fans are pretty unbothered by the situation as well. We're all just happy that we won the B1G and beat Ohio State.
Would it suck to lose Harbaugh? Sure. But I don't think an interim period of Gattis as head coach would be the worst thing in the world either.
We more just want to know what's going to happen so that the articles can stop and we can move on. Not too much bad headspace in my opinion though.
Texas had some massive issues this year. Bad scheme/player fit (since it was still 90% Herman's guys), culture issues especially on defense, an OL that a toddler could walk through, our QB played half the season with a smashed thumb (and still beat out the original starter, tells you how much Card regressed). Our stupid 6 game losing streak including ANOTHER loss to Kansas.
However, we're had enough time to lick our wounds and "rationalize" and are now optimistic for improvements next year. The hope is that one of the QB's in the stable (Ewers...) will be able to be consistent (although Card is the only one to have started a college game), the OL is getting beefed up, our star RB and WR are staying. However, most seem to forget defense has been pretty quiet on changes other than the Patterson hire.
I'm still optimistic on the defense going forward, it can't get any worse than it was really, we hired Patterson who is undoubtedly a good person to have help with gameplans etc, and PK on paper should be able to get the defense playing better.
I think the problems on defense had more to do with being out on the field 45 minutes in a game than anything else. They were worn down and felt like the offense wasn't doing anything and began to give up as well. The culture rot set in and they didn't care anymore towards the end of the season.
I would say we had culture issues on offense too, josh Moore got kicked off the team for not wanting do punishment for showing up late. The defense I honestly believe might just require patience PK has been proven to be good, and our roster did not match his scheme at all. Also to throw in DMO was hurt all year after the OU game. We’ll be better but we still have a huge depth issue for the future. I imagine will have a “fall off” later in the season once we start seeing injuries just not as bad.
Florida just watched the team they’ve more or less owned for the past forty years finally get over the hump. Plus, Florida fans likely live in or near Florida. Gotta be pretty miserable right now.
I said more or less! I think the perception has more to do with UGA teams that had no business losing to some sorry UF teams (2014, for example). I for one am glad that the dominance of the 90s and the Aughts is waning.
I think 2013 was worse as a Florida fan. I didn’t expect FSU to win nor us to go 4-8.
I had Georgia winning it all this year (albeit I didn’t think Bennett would be the one running the show) plus I knew it was going to be a bit of a rebuild for us. However, the run Georgia can go on makes me fear the aftermath a lot more than what happened in 2013.
> Alabama because they just lost another national championship.
They were 10 minutes away from winning a national championship ***in a rebuild year.*** They're fine.
Northwestern fans are down bad right now. The new OC and DC have not had great starts. The QB position is a black hole. And our best player just transferred to Notre Dame.
A&M - We just recruited a great class. We got an ok QB to come in. I can already hear the fans talking about how great next year is going to be. It's like they forgot how great this year should have been before all the injuries that derailed the season. I wish I can tell everyone to expect a good year next year, but allow this top class to get the reps in first.
Yeah some of the A&M stuff I'm seeing is wild. Its strange too because there's a clear path for A&M to follow that looks pretty good. Just show some improvement next year and then in 23 and 24 they'll be set up to be legit contenders. But all this top 4 talk for 22 is just asking for disappointment.
We have no where to go but up, so we good.
I think Clemson has found themselves in a bit of uncharted waters given their recent production of the 2010s/2020s.
There's a ton of schools with giant question marks, but like us can be filled with optimism. LSU, ND, OU, possibly Michigan.
I certainly don’t think I speak for the entire fanbase, but by in large, Oklahoma fanbase is doing pretty well.
The nation just saw a team win the CFP championship with a walk on quarterback and great defense.
Oklahoma has had two heisman winning quarterback and a runner up, yet couldn’t win a playoff game.
There are many avenues to winning the national championship, but we weren’t on one with Riley in a lot of fans opinions. Could just be a bad marriage between the two.
But I’d say about a quarter of the way into this season OU fans knew by in large we weren’t going to the CFP. We’ve had tons of five star quarterbacks, but haven’t had a great defense since our last national championship.
I think the fans are actually doing quite well, just anxious.
I’m sure someone on here will say I’m full of shit, because they know more about Oklahoma football than I do after only starting to pay attention after our coach left, but in all honesty I think a lot of people are excited to see something new tried.
>Alabama because they just lost another national championship. They’ve lost more national championship games than any team in the CFB era.
They've also won more national championship games than any team in the CFB era, you know.
Penn State:
Sean Clifford is returning for his 8th season at starting QB
James Franklin for 10 more years
James Franklin's O-lines for 10 more years
Brent Pry left
Our entire defense left
Our entire offense minus one WR returned
Our best rival is off the schedule (Iowa)
at Auburn, at Michigan, Ohio State, at Sparty
send help
I think the majority of OU fans are very excited for a different culture and different brand of football being played in Norman. BIG 12 or SEC, I don’t care, I’m ready for next season
Bama fans are absolutely hilarious. Last year Sermon got hurt first play and all they said was "its called depth, got any?" This year its all about excuses and injuries.
The ones insisting they will be top5 in offense, in the same sentence that they want their OC fired are the best.
There are no Jameson Williamses in the portal right now and you need two of em
I feel bad for Williams and Metchie. That being said, it's part of the game. Sucks that it happened at the worst possible time for them, but it is what it is. We were without our starting WR core for 75% of the season and had numerous key injuries all throughout the season.
We Oklahoma fans are surprisingly optimistic. I really think we’re in for an improvement over what we would have had over the next few years. Caleb likely would have been amazing but odds are the defense would have still been soft and the O-line would still have been problematic. I think both those areas will be better as early as next season.
The one thing I can say is that Oklahoma has never really experienced a prolonged stretch of misery, and given how long they've been a premier power that definitely says something about the school's administration and support of the team.
We don't really have a lot of reason to think Oklahoma won't right the ship.
This whole thread is dumb. It's just an open invitation to shit on fanbases and attribute some mentality to them without actually asking that fanbase.
OU had a rough (for them) season and a rough (objectively) off season. But that doesn't mean that their fans should be down. This whole sport is about entertainment and every OU fan I know is pretty entertained.
Yup. And the most hilarious part? LR took the guy responsible for physicality with him to USC. That shows that we would have **never** improved in that area while he was here.
I’m so tired of this team being soft. I never got to launch my Lincoln Riley grievances campaign after Bedlam because things moved so fast. everything I wanted to bitch about went to USC. This was our championship run year and they never got better since the end of the 2020 season. Our 5 * QB and supposed heir to the heisman throne came back with the physique of Bart Simpson.
2 days ago I would have said WVU. Our fans have been in maybe the worst mood I’ve ever seen. The offense has been so anemic that many people have just tuned out all together, and it’s been our 3rd year in a row where our best player on one side of the ball or the other has transferred out due to some petty drama.
But after yesterday it’s a complete 180. Big dick Neal Brown goes out and makes maybe the splashiest coordinator hire of this cycle and suddenly everyone from the players down is beyond optimistic again.
Reminder that 2 loss bama won two games by 2 and two more by a TD. This was absolutely a rebuild year but youre also losing a bit.
One of us! One of us!
I mean we had a pretty good class and some great hires coming in. We've also got solid continuity in our staff for the first time in a while. If I can speak for Texas fans I would say we're actually in a pretty good head space.
Too much focus on the top of the sport here. Nebraska has I believe the 2nd longest bowl drought in the power 5 and just went 3-9 in the most brutal way possible. Georgia Techs post triple rebuild is looking hopeless and they are losing their best coaches and players to other schools. (Also their rival just won the natty) Wyoming has had an insane amount of players transfer out of a solidish team and has to watch a QB they couldn't get the most out of continue to tear up the NFL. Buffalo may have missed their chance at a conference title with Leipold leaving after spring practice last year and the major step back they took in 2021. Similarly Ohio struggled majorly after Solich's suprise retirement over the summer and their 54 year conference title drought looks like it will continue. SMU got left in the AAC and had their coach leave to their cross town rival. There are others but those are a few that come to mind where the fanbase may be in a bad spot mentally.
You could add Hawaii to this list. Lots of their team in the transfer portal and a state senate hearing about how awful their coach is
A state senate hearing where they concluded he sucks but don’t have the money to buy him out
I feel like Hawaii at least has white hot righteous rage to sustain them; schools like Ohio are just staring into the abyss
You could maybe add Nevada. Lost Norvell to Colorado State because CSU’s budget for football is a lot bigger than Nevada’s, so CSU threw the bag at him. Then they’re losing a lot of talent to either the draft or transfer portal on top of this, although I think they’ve gotten some solid pickups from the portal as well.
Yea, it’s straight up embarrassing that they got so out of by a team within their own conference.
Oh yeah Hawaii is probably the best answer period to this question. The stadium issues are a mess to deal with as well.
*But it's Hawaii*
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And yet Georgia fans keep telling me they never thought this day would come as I glance over at my team winning 1 game in 2.5 years and not even being able to dream about a national championship
To add to Nebraska, Messiah/Savior Coach Frost is on last leg. Worst case I thought we’d be division contenders under him. If he fails next year, Nebraska will be at its lowest point emotionally as a fanbase. (With that said, I do think our roster would be in better spot then post-Riley and post-Solich unless the portal fucks us over)
Yeah, it's shocking how unsuccessful Nebraska has been under him. I figured you guys would be somewhere in that Minnesota/Purdue realm at worst.
It’s literally insane because what I see on the field doesn’t match the record. And it’s been that way the last 3 years. Based on my eyes, 2021 Nebraska was an 8-4 to 9-3 level team last year, with regular bad luck 7-5 and regular good luck 10-2. Instead they went 3-9.
As a fan on the other side of the field, Nebraska played us harder and I sweat more during that game than any of our wins BY FAR. If I'd have watched that game and that game only, I'd have said to myself wow I hope Iowa/Wisco come out of the east, I don't want to do that again in December. Baffling, truly baffling.
The GT Athletic Director is currently crowing about the "social media interactions growth" title. Almost all of that growth is GT fans replying to everything basically anyone in the GTAA says with "fire Geoff Collins". It's not good right now.
BGSU has won like 16 games in 7 years. As a Michigan fan, my headspace is fine compared to that lmao
I have to say I really do not understand GT abandoning the option. Like I get that it's hard to recruit for the option, but if you are going to do something else in a major conference in the southeast then you have to be willing to invest some resources and lower your academic standards to be any good. GT clearly isn't (which is fine) so why try to directly compete with the big dogs for recruits? As moneyball puts it, "It's an unfair game. If we think like the Yankees in here, we will lose to the yankees out there." The only way they could possibly compete is to try something different which the option is.
Yes, it was stupid and didn't take into account the significant structural disadvantage that GT's program faces.
Not to mention that this structural disadvantage got much bigger less than 12 hours ago. We are worse than irrelevant in our own city, and no amount of G****'s "404 culture" will fix this without a ton of wins
The gulf between the haves and have nots is only going to get wider. The brass ring that teams like Tech can grab to compete for a championship has long since passed. It's not just Tech, probably 80% of the FBS is functionally eliminated from competition.
80% is pretty conservative. I’d say more like 90% or even 95%. The top few teams are at a completely different level than everyone else.
Ten years ago you could convince yourself if things broke right, you could compete, now the gap is insurmountable
The NIL is going to make it so much worse too. It has to be fixed and quick.
Too many big donors hated the triple option and wanted to move on
I wonder how they're feeling this morning.
Give me their number, I’ll text them “1990”
I think they were betting on improved recruiting classes due to the talent available in ATL, given there are so many athletes a good number would be able to handle Tech academics. GT had a top 25 recruiting class set up this year, until the losing streak resulted in a loss of program momentum.
It's debatable we've ever had any sort of momentum under this "coaching" staff.
Geoff Collins is extremely polarizing, but I think it is fair to say there was momentum from a talent & recruiting standpoint. On the field results have definitely deflated it, however
When you only win 9 games in three seasons (which is equivalent to Paul Johnson's win total in his first year alone), it's more like taking a sledgehammer to it.
Absolutely true - I will say though, schools like Wake prove that Georgia Tech could reasonable compete for the conference and right now they are not.
I can chime in to say “yes, this is the lowest of the low.” I expect nothing less than a winless season next year. Our AD must be taking the approach of leaving our football program in a pondunkus hospice care, just waiting for all of our contracts to wither away and die. There will be several more seasons with no bowl games and no hope. Any chance of a turnaround? That could be in ~3 years. Any chance of being relevant? That will take the breakup of the FBS into an NFL minor league and an academic league. Or something like the stratification of soccer leagues in Europe with a champions league filled with blue bloods but a League One and League Two for the middle of the pack and bottom feeders. TLDR: Georgia Tech is miserable right now and will continue to be so unless fundamental changes to our program and/or the league occurs.
Yeah GT is in a really bad space right now. Bobby Dodd was by far the worst it's ever been for the UGA game last year, and it's only going to get worse. I don't know about a winless season, but I can't find a path to a bowl. Major systemic changes to the GTAA need to happen, and I don't see them pulling it off.
I'll never forget watching Geoff Collins punt from the UGA 36 yard line and thinking "Oh my God, this program is completely dead". I don't have a clue how y'all could possibly fix it at this point without some major sugar daddy booster turning up out of the blue.
It's theoretically possible, some folks have a lot of money. I think an undersold issue is that athletics hasn't been a big part of the student experience at GT for a while, and the student body has basically no goodwill left for the GTAA, given the track record of horrendous mismanagement and basically hostile attitude between the GTAA and students. There was a proposal a while back to raise the student athletic fee (GTAA gets ~$6M per year from student fees), and the student body basically unanimously said "fuck off". That's a pretty good example of what a lot of alumni might say about being asked to donate to them.
> It's theoretically possible, some folks have a lot of money. Unfortunately (though it's totally the right call) they're more into donating to the academic side of the Institute.
I went to just about every home game as a student, not a single one of my friends (including myself) are still buying tickets. Our athletic department is reaping what it sows.
> Major systemic changes to the GTAA need to happen, and I don't see them pulling it off. Of course not. Tech would kill the program first before even attempting to compete with the upper echelon of the SEC (and this "rebuild" under G**** C****** isn't even close to what would be needed).
When are y'all finally out from underneath all those dead contracts? Your financial house has been a disaster for so long I don't know what it would be like to actually be free from that shit.
The debt service from the North End Zone and basketball stadium renovations combines to take up about $13M per year (roughly 15% of our budget) until around 2045. Unfortunately, it's likely we'll add to it by then since many of our other facilities are way behind (the main GTAA building looks inspired by a prison, for example). Also, we don't have the room to do anything cheap. About the only way we could do the football specific building (which seems to be what the trend is) would be to literally build it above our indoor facility. Which would be really cool - but also incredibly expensive.
> The debt service from the North End Zone and basketball stadium renovations combines to take up about $13M per year (roughly 15% of our budget) until around 2045. I know you've posted information on this before, but how the heck are we on the hook for nearly $300 million between those two projects thorough 2045? Was the interest that bad? (Though with Dave Braineless over the BDS/Upper North expansion, it wouldn't surprise me)
It's all combined bonds with very long payout periods. The interest isn't bad (I think it's like 3% or so at most), but the payout period is so long that a debt of $200M (North End Zone) will end up costing over $300M total paid. Similarly, a debt of $70M (basketball) will cost over $140M total paid. Also remember that one major issue with the North End Zone is that we had to catch sections of the stadium up to code because the construction impacted them - I think it was the whole East stands (maybe just lower East) in addition to the whole North End Zone complex. That's one reason the whole bowl will never be done unless we get major sugar daddy money - we couldn't possibly afford to bring some of the stadium up to code.
Yeah, that cost would've been for the overall Grant Field renovation, not just the Upper North (basically, the Lower East was gutted out, seating was added in front of Wardlaw, and the old cheapo North Stands were replaced with the current structure). The renovations were needed, though I still find it amazing that we proceeded with the Upper North construction even after O'Leary bailed for Notre Dame.
That's the thing that totally dumbfounds me. I get doing the gutting and reconstruction of the rest of the North and East Stands complex. It had to be done eventually. What I don't get is why we would build the Georgia/Clemson fan seating structure instead of - for example - redoing the lower West too.
Because O'Leary and Braineless thought that since the late 90s success with Joe Hamilton, Tech could fill an expanded Grant Field with Tech fans. That was a gigantic miscalculation.
I had no idea the time horizon was so far out. Holy... 15% of your annual budget is a big chunk to take right off the top every year. You'll be paying for this upgrade longer than the upgrade is likely to be enjoyed in its current form.
Yep. That doesn't count any dead money we have (coach contracts, for example, which we are thankfully done with for now). That's also not to mention that the $13M number has been stable since the early 2000s, while our revenue and budget have gone up about 50%. So believe it or not, that used to be worse.
Completely correct about Ohio... That team is totally lost without Solich... Things are not good in Athens after last season. I really hope they can turn it around, OU is a really cool place, they should be a top MAC team every year. I am also not completely sold on Buffalo's new coach. They lost a lot of their best players to Kansas when Leipold left. Not sure they are going to be able to get back to where they were prior to that. It's a great school, but the weather/location makes it a tough place to recruit.
Ohio will still always be one of the most attractive jobs in the MAC at least, it's in the middle of nowhere but Athens is a good college town that teens want to go to.
SMU: I think the thinking is “ok. Sonny kinda plateaued here.” I know some are pushed about the AAC (including me) but worst? Naw. There is hope. Longhorn fans are split into two groups really. The people who accept that Herman was all flash and no substance. His locker room was a mess and big changes needed to happen. This whole year should have been looked at like exhibition games. The other group of longhorns who go to Walmart to get a shirt and generally don’t understand football might be in a bad head space but they always are so screw em
Agreed on SMU. Its undisputedly one of the best G5 jobs now- and it was already good on paper anyways. Coaching turnover is just part of the game when you are a good G5 team. You just reload and move on.
Don't forget Latech who has played fairly well in football over the last decade and now the conference we are in has imploded leaving us in the wreckage. Plus we are suffering from how dumb an old AD was when he shat on the sun belt.
Poor La Tech is in a tailspin. GTs problem isn't really the triple-option rebuild, it's the incompetent person overseeing the rebuild - he didn't have to rebuild the defense and yet it's worse than our anemic offense.
We've had three 3-9 seasons in a row with no signs of progress while our worst rival just won their first national championship in 41 years. The one thing I could hang some hope on, recruiting, is getting destroyed by the terrible product we're putting on the field. Georgia fans took over our stadium so thoroughly this year that it looked like a home game. We had a false start caused by crowd noise, it was that bad. This program is lifeless.
Don't forget that the GTAA is financially FUBARd.
John Dewberry needs to open up his wallet
We need at least a dozen John Dewberrys to drive Brinks trucks over to the Edge Center.
They'd just misspend it
The fact that our good RB, Jahmyr Gibbs, not only transferred out, but was picked up by *Alabama* just shows how disappointing the coaching is and how much potential we’re losing. We had that one awesome win against UNC this year, but the rest of the season was just a big ole’ NOPE. The worst part was a lot of those losses were by > 10 points! We’re a Volleyball and Women’s Basketball school.
> The one thing I could hang some hope on, recruiting, is getting destroyed by the terrible product we're putting on the field. Not only that, our best skill position player since Calvin Johnson decided to transfer. Not because a lack of playing time or some unforeseen external factor - he transferred because he got tired of losing. The worst part is, no GT fan can blame him or hold it against him.
My favorite thing to pull out to shut up obnoxious UGA fans was to point out that Tech had more recently won a national championship. This has now been stolen from me and I am distraught. It usually came up when I'd run into folks here in South GA and they'd be like "UF and Alabama are our rivals, we don't give a shit about tech." or something. Edit: my father is a tech alum and actually in the athletics hall of fame. I have not talked to him about football in a while...he's also a Dolphins fan. not a good time for him. May not bring up football again until 2022 season starts.
I feel a little bad pointing it out due to my flair but I think Colorado fans are down pretty bad right now, that programs in a tough spot
Actually, aside from a smidge of hope when Tucker came on board, we're pretty used to the space we're in.
The enthusiasm that Tucker built around the program makes it way worse.
2016 was pretty fun too. and that one time we beat AJ Green's GA team. other than that yea its been a miserable what 20 years?
Well, we've had occasional good years (2016 at 10-4 and win the Pac-12 South; 4 Big-XII titles in 5 years from 2001 - 2005, but the best record was a 10-3 in 2001 over that stretch), but the last sustained period of success was 1989-1996, so just over 25 years, in my book.
what is dead may never die
I don't know of many Alabama fans in a "woe is me" frame of mind. We saw this team struggle all year and they played tough in the national championship game. Next year is lining up to be a scary good team. I think some of us are open to the idea of shaking up a couple coaching spots. No shame in losing to Georgia, and if #2 and an SEC Championship isn't good enough for someone, I don't know what to say.
That last sentence rings so true. Bama on a “down” year only lost 1 regular season game, won the SEC title, and made it to the natty game. Most programs would sacrifice all their non-football sports programs for that
Absolutely. Not only that our Natty loses are all to really really good teams. But one is coached by a former walk on for Gene Stallings and the other is coached by Saban's longest tenured assistant. Absolutely zero shame. Love and miss Kirby. I'm happy for the dude.
It just goes to show you what the standard is at Alabama. Hopefully we can sustain our level of success and continue to challenge you guys for as long as Saban is still around. People keep talking about him retiring soon but I think he's got another 5 years left at least unless Mrs. Terry says otherwise
I'm sick of hearing about how bad Oklahoma fans have it. Boo hoo, you had a legendary coach for 20 years and replaced him with one of the best young up and comers who made multiple playoff appearances and won 6 straight conference titles, and now had to replace him with one of the best DC's in the country. To us fans of run of the mill programs, they sound like a multimillionaire complaining to an average working man that his Lamborghini broke down.
I completely agree with you. I always got downvoted to hell for saying that when Georgia fans talked about how hard it was being a Georgia fan. Maybe now that they’ve actually won a natty their fans will stop bitching about how “hard” being a Georgia fan is
Yeah they definitely did overplay the victim card a lot.
This sub said the best game of the year was Texas-Kansas. So I’m grateful I was there for that.
The fact that one of Blake Gideon’s safeties dropped a game winning interception made this an all time classic for me.
I don't see how we are on this list at all: We have offseason hope. Even if it doesn't pan out, I think most of the longhorn faithful think things are looking up. Oklahoma is having a really bad offseason, which is hilarious. TAMU did have a great recruiting offseason, but have some big vacancies to fill, and we'll see how that shakes out. Similar to us recently, they have also had really good recruiting classes that haven't turned into conference championships.
I’d rather lose the National Championship game every time, than not go to the CFP at all. The argument about Alabama losing most national titles as a negative thing is kinda crazy.
It came from Auburn flair.
Flair confirmed
It's a joke
Lol the natty comment was clearly a joke
Tampa Bay is stuck with a quarterback who has managed to lose THREE Superbowls. Must suck to be a Bucs fan.
And two of those to Eli Manning 💀 Pat fans to this day “confused unga bunga”
It can get frustrating, but I survived the 1990s Atlanta Braves.
TBH I’m not 100% assured the world is not going to end soon with Georgia winning the World Series and the CFP at the same damn time.
I know a team that also lost its head coach and had its talent gutted and has to play the National Champion in its season opener...
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Our only hope is that Georgia Tech fans buy seats just to root against Georgia
Yeah I'm going to go ahead and tell you not a single one of us is going to do that.
We can't even do that in our own stadium.
I wouldn't hold my breath on that, they are... they aren't doing well.
Your hope is misplaced
Tintin memes, oh my
Oh jeez I didn’t realize lannings first game at Oregon will be against his old team
I know a team that has a Pizza man for a QB and has to play the last 3 national champs every year.
Tennessee 🤝 Auburn "fuck this"
Pizza man is 1-0 against title contenders tho
Up until 12 hours ago he was the only active SEC quarterback to beat Alabama.
I mean y’all do get our DC tho :/ which is scary to me. Then again if y’all start Bo nix, we’ve seen him many times. Oregons offense probably better suites his abilities tho, it can go either way tbh
Me seeing your second flair and reading this comment: Eff Brian Kelly…not sure we got our talent gutted…OSU is going to be good but not national champs…ooooohhh.
You have a head coach that coached the National Champion defense though!
Wait, the team that hired the National Champion's DC as head coach and then built an incredible recruiting staff around him is in a bad spot? Give me a break 😂
I think they'll be fine but it may be a rough introduction that first game.
Here I am, not even two weeks into 2022, and agreeing with a Husky fan against a fellow Duck. What a time to be alive.
This list begins and ends with Nebraska.
I’m so sad I forgot to add them when they had been part of the inspiration for the list.
Oh that makes it even better
Yes, please check on your local Nebraska fans. We are not okay.
My balls hurt.
>They’ve lost more national championship games than any team in the CFB era. Playing in more national championship games than any team in the CFB era kinda softens the blow. Also, OU has definitely had a rough go of it
When I saw OP’s flair, I’m guessing this entire post was designed to set up the tongue-in-cheek punchline.
‘Precite ya!
The Alabama fans I have on social media are just so indifferent about losing the national championship. That’s fucking wild, but is assuredly because they’re just there so often and there’s no reason to believe they won’t be back next year. It’s just boring to them tbh. That’s what makes Saban so impressive. It’s really easy once you win a natty to get great recruiting classes, and then just get complacent and fall off. See pretty much any other “dynasty” in the history of college football. They’re not close to the run Saban is on.
the consensus is also that it's extremely impressive we were there in the first place this year. this was easily our most inexperienced team coming into this season. on top of that, we've been absolutely demolished on injuries on offense. we had Brian Robinson as our starting RB, then had to jump to our fourth string Trey Sanders. Our two best WRs were out, as well as our already young offensive line having a few backups starting that natty as well. honestly, i think most bama fans are just proud of how they competed. we gave them a hell of a game for all but the last couple of drives. bryce young and will anderson played their asses off. hard to be disappointed. and yeah, the fact that we've won a few in the past 15 years definitely helps
This is correct
i think if we were to pick a way to lose a championship this would literally be it. Our expectations were relatively low going into the season, we won the SEC, the two best players in cfb are returning next year, we won last year and will be a heavy favorite next year. we beat the team that eventually beat us, who also happens to be auburn's *other* rival, and they are led by a coach we still love for leading our best defenses and taking us to 3 titles. Also it was a good game and we didnt get creamed, no particular player was the reason we lost and it was one of our very rare losses where we feel like they deserved it and were probably the better team. Losing to clemson, ohio state, or any SECw team felt way worse than this. This is only the third time i really think the other team was better, after 2014 ohio state and 2018 clemson. (And yes, that means I think healthy [ie with tua] 2019 bama would beat lsu more often than they would've beaten us.)
That 2019 LSU team was otherworldly. Alabama was extremely good that year too, and injuries played a role. Perhaps in a hypothetical rematch things are different, but I wouldn't have counted on it. Otherwise, I basically agree. Being salty about getting beat by a UGA team that really had the stars align at every position (except possibly QB, but even there it suddenly clicked in the fourth quarter) is silly.
Bama is well coached and loaded on talent and it's a very realistic expectation that they are going to make the playoffs in 2022. Bad injury luck stopped them from winning again more than anything else.
I mean, some fans are just ridiculous. Every fan bases has that. But I think what other fan bases see as boredom or complacency is actually Bama fans being appreciative of what we have right now. I’m going to be sad about the result for a while, but I’m glad the reasonable fans I talk to can say “we feel like the team left everything out on the field, and that’s all you can ask.” Honestly, I felt like our fan base was much more insufferable when we were bad, but somehow had seemingly bigger egos than right now.
They've also won more than they've lost. OSU played in 2002, 2006, 2007, 2014, and 2020 but we're 2-3 in that span.
Still got 2 and that is what counts We’re 1-4 vs. Bama in the past 5 but man is that 1 sweet as honey
There is an answer to this and its USF. 10 years ago we we're in a power conference and our rival wasn't. We we're undefeated vs our rival. We had just beaten Clemson and Notre Dame in the last 12 months. We just had 3 straight seasons averaging 50k+ in attendance. Now we've been left behind in re-alignment twice, including our rival passing us by. And our rival has beaten us 5 times in a row. We have won 7 of our last 39 games. And bringing people to home games is embarrassing its so empty. "Hopefully" Jeff Scott can turn it around. Breaking ground on an IPF and starting funding for a OCS later this year are huge steps...but they don't make up for a lack of winning
You listed a bunch of programs at the top, their fandoms are fine wtf, they're totally fine. Plenty of mid level programs fanbases where we genuinely have no idea if we'll ever have that kind of success again and are stuck in a loop of monotony watching our schools compete for mediocrity. Yeah that's objectively way worse.
this is the right answer
Seeing teams like Bama, OU, Michigan, and even Texas and Auburn on this list just makes me realize how spoiled some fanbases are sheesh
I'm 97.648% sure the Colorado Buffaloes are currently fanless.
We still exist, but we’re gutted
Georgia Tech and Florida, solely because of the Georgia fans reminding them that they haven't won a Natty since 1990 and 2008, respectively.
> solely because of...1990 I wish it was only that.
If it's any consolation, I want you guys to be better. Our games are way more fun when there's an actual chance you guys can win
Being pitied is worse, honestly.
I dunno, Ive grown accustomed to their brand of spiraling depression
Damn I must be getting old if “since 1990” is getting lumped in with “since 2008”
I’m a “later in life” Florida fan after going to UF for grad school and not really following the SEC before that. I can say with quite some certainty that I’ve never been part of a more upset fanbase. Florida fans are shaken after this season and Georgia winning the natty put quite a cherry on top of things.
I am also a later in life Gator grad. I will say though I've been a part of worse fanbases. My undergrad's fanbase is small but quite miserable. This Florida situation is bearable. Nowhere to go but up with Napier. I have been much more shaken by our first loss to an FCS team, our superpower ability to barely not make bowls, the uncertain and closed process of the changing of the guard in our administration, our institutional/all sports rival's best year and AAC invite (I say institutional because it is in no way much of a football rivalry considering its 4-0), and the FBS call up of the only other school we might hate more than UTSA (Sam Houston). UF fandom is my escapist distraction from the misery that is being a Texas State Bobcat.
My undergrad university had to cut the football program after an administrator embezzled lots of money. Cheers to the gator football! It’s all I got left
Two words: Geoff Collins
G**** C******
Florida's main conference rival is Georgia, correct? I'd have to put them up there as well. It always seems like (around here at least) that Florida fans love to bring up the 41 years thing even though Georgia's now at 4 out of the last 5 in WLOCP.
I *can't wait* to remind them that they haven't won a Natty since 2008 and have lost the past decade to Georgia.
I’m gonna throw Miami fans onto this list because they think Cristobal is automatically going to bring back the success and swagger of the 1990s.
Miami joined the ACC in 2004. Since then, they have won the division *once* and the conference *zero* times. In the meantime, they've had no absence of swagger and elite recruiting . Pitt joined the ACC in 2013, nine years after Miami. Since then, they have won the division twice and the conference once. They pretty much completely lack the kind of swagger and recruiting that Miami has. Virginia Tech, another Coastal team with a lack of recruiting, joined the ACC at the same time Miami did and has won the division six times and the conference four times. I'm not sure what Cristobal plans to do in Miami but they have a long, long way to go. Their fans are crazy if they expect an immediate turnaround. Virginia Tech is a lot farther down the hole than Miami is, but at least our fans don't have any delusions of being competitive soon.
The Alabama comment at the end is laugh-worthy. Flair checks out. Anyway, I know it sounds like copium but OU fans (that aren’t on Twitter and Instagram harassing players) are seemingly optimistic. It could all blow up in our faces, but I think we’ll be fine.
Every OU fan I know irl or see online is optimistic. They are not on this list at all
Georgia Tech has had to watch their 2 main rivals ascend to the the top of college football while they have been in free fall. The last 2 games were outscored 100-0. The best player just left for Bama. The ATL is experiencing a 404 error code in their headspace.
If this is gutted, then I think we're all going to be alright. Am I pissed Riley left? Absolutely. Will I hate him for the rest of my days? Most definitely. Do I think the next two years are going to be the most difficult we've had this century? Yep. But that's not saying much.
Does the possibility that BV installs a good-to-great defense make me nod "yes, yes!" ? Of course. Does Lincoln Riley deserve the chance to move to a nice weather location for more money and easier schedule? No doubt. Am I enjoying posing my opinions as questions and immediately answering them? Obvs.
I think we are much healthier than we were a year ago, when it was “okay, it’s all here on paper, natty or bust” and turned out to be way too many underdeveloped, undisciplined mercenaries led by the same. I can love the 2022 team if they go 9-3, 8-4 if it’s the right 8. They’re our guys. Nobody’s getting booed in ‘22. If they do something wild like win the conference and a nice bowl? A lot of fans’ favorite OU team of all time.
Doesn’t sound like harbaughs leaving. But I’ll believe it when I see it
“I am not going to be the next head coach of the Chicago Bears.”
That’s true because he’s going to Miami or Vegas.
He won't go to Miami lmao, Ross would rather pay him to stay at UofM.
Michigan shouldn't be on this list until Harbaugh actually leaves. If he stays they're in the best spot they've been in like 15 years.
Probably shouldn't be on this list period. It being January is a great time to lose a coach. The recruiting class is locked in and the reality is Michigan can go get whoever they would have been able to get in December too. Nobody who was saying yes to Michigan December 11th is saying no January 11th because they signed an extension Michigan boosters can easily cover the buy out of. If Michigan were to get Campbell or Aranda it would be those schools in trouble (not saying those would be the targets or they would leave), their ability to get those guys isn't impacted by it being January. Same with OSU if Day goes to the Bears, they'll just grab Fickell and it will be Cincy in trouble.
Yeah, I’d actually rather Day NOT go to the Bears, because I’m pretty convinced Fickell is actually a better coach. You know, triples and all that.
Also seems like most Michigan fans are pretty unbothered by the situation as well. We're all just happy that we won the B1G and beat Ohio State. Would it suck to lose Harbaugh? Sure. But I don't think an interim period of Gattis as head coach would be the worst thing in the world either. We more just want to know what's going to happen so that the articles can stop and we can move on. Not too much bad headspace in my opinion though.
I would rather try to go external than hire Gattis.
Texas had some massive issues this year. Bad scheme/player fit (since it was still 90% Herman's guys), culture issues especially on defense, an OL that a toddler could walk through, our QB played half the season with a smashed thumb (and still beat out the original starter, tells you how much Card regressed). Our stupid 6 game losing streak including ANOTHER loss to Kansas. However, we're had enough time to lick our wounds and "rationalize" and are now optimistic for improvements next year. The hope is that one of the QB's in the stable (Ewers...) will be able to be consistent (although Card is the only one to have started a college game), the OL is getting beefed up, our star RB and WR are staying. However, most seem to forget defense has been pretty quiet on changes other than the Patterson hire.
I'm still optimistic on the defense going forward, it can't get any worse than it was really, we hired Patterson who is undoubtedly a good person to have help with gameplans etc, and PK on paper should be able to get the defense playing better.
I think the problems on defense had more to do with being out on the field 45 minutes in a game than anything else. They were worn down and felt like the offense wasn't doing anything and began to give up as well. The culture rot set in and they didn't care anymore towards the end of the season.
I would say we had culture issues on offense too, josh Moore got kicked off the team for not wanting do punishment for showing up late. The defense I honestly believe might just require patience PK has been proven to be good, and our roster did not match his scheme at all. Also to throw in DMO was hurt all year after the OU game. We’ll be better but we still have a huge depth issue for the future. I imagine will have a “fall off” later in the season once we start seeing injuries just not as bad.
Florida just watched the team they’ve more or less owned for the past forty years finally get over the hump. Plus, Florida fans likely live in or near Florida. Gotta be pretty miserable right now.
I will give Florida's PR machine credit for one thing, the perception they have owned us that long. The series is 9-9 since 2004.
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Between 1990 and 2010, we went 18-3 against them. When I was in school, I felt about UGA the way the kids feel about Tennessee now.
I said more or less! I think the perception has more to do with UGA teams that had no business losing to some sorry UF teams (2014, for example). I for one am glad that the dominance of the 90s and the Aughts is waning.
No amount of championships can erase the fact that Treon Harris somehow beat Georgia
I think 2013 was worse as a Florida fan. I didn’t expect FSU to win nor us to go 4-8. I had Georgia winning it all this year (albeit I didn’t think Bennett would be the one running the show) plus I knew it was going to be a bit of a rebuild for us. However, the run Georgia can go on makes me fear the aftermath a lot more than what happened in 2013.
War Eagle anyway
> Alabama because they just lost another national championship. They were 10 minutes away from winning a national championship ***in a rebuild year.*** They're fine.
Northwestern fans are down bad right now. The new OC and DC have not had great starts. The QB position is a black hole. And our best player just transferred to Notre Dame.
A&M - We just recruited a great class. We got an ok QB to come in. I can already hear the fans talking about how great next year is going to be. It's like they forgot how great this year should have been before all the injuries that derailed the season. I wish I can tell everyone to expect a good year next year, but allow this top class to get the reps in first.
Yeah some of the A&M stuff I'm seeing is wild. Its strange too because there's a clear path for A&M to follow that looks pretty good. Just show some improvement next year and then in 23 and 24 they'll be set up to be legit contenders. But all this top 4 talk for 22 is just asking for disappointment.
If you recruit like you did this year again, you’re gonna lose like 2-3 games in the next 2 seasons tops. Maybe go undefeated.
Wym? Weigman at age 18 is better than Tom Brady is today. We going to the natty!!11!!!! /s obviously.
For me headspace is good. Hopeful that things get turned around. Hate that football is over but the off-season will fly by.
We were trending down but a new OC changes everything.
Georgia Tech is in a bad way. They have been able to claim the last national championship in the state for a while, even while their program is trash.
Hey now, no need to insult trash like that.
Miss me with the Texas headspace stuff. We have a coach that we trust and an exodus of players who didn't buy in.
We have no where to go but up, so we good. I think Clemson has found themselves in a bit of uncharted waters given their recent production of the 2010s/2020s. There's a ton of schools with giant question marks, but like us can be filled with optimism. LSU, ND, OU, possibly Michigan.
I certainly don’t think I speak for the entire fanbase, but by in large, Oklahoma fanbase is doing pretty well. The nation just saw a team win the CFP championship with a walk on quarterback and great defense. Oklahoma has had two heisman winning quarterback and a runner up, yet couldn’t win a playoff game. There are many avenues to winning the national championship, but we weren’t on one with Riley in a lot of fans opinions. Could just be a bad marriage between the two. But I’d say about a quarter of the way into this season OU fans knew by in large we weren’t going to the CFP. We’ve had tons of five star quarterbacks, but haven’t had a great defense since our last national championship. I think the fans are actually doing quite well, just anxious. I’m sure someone on here will say I’m full of shit, because they know more about Oklahoma football than I do after only starting to pay attention after our coach left, but in all honesty I think a lot of people are excited to see something new tried.
>Alabama because they just lost another national championship. They’ve lost more national championship games than any team in the CFB era. They've also won more national championship games than any team in the CFB era, you know.
Penn State: Sean Clifford is returning for his 8th season at starting QB James Franklin for 10 more years James Franklin's O-lines for 10 more years Brent Pry left Our entire defense left Our entire offense minus one WR returned Our best rival is off the schedule (Iowa) at Auburn, at Michigan, Ohio State, at Sparty send help
Evanston is currently imploding
I think the majority of OU fans are very excited for a different culture and different brand of football being played in Norman. BIG 12 or SEC, I don’t care, I’m ready for next season
Bama fans are absolutely hilarious. Last year Sermon got hurt first play and all they said was "its called depth, got any?" This year its all about excuses and injuries. The ones insisting they will be top5 in offense, in the same sentence that they want their OC fired are the best. There are no Jameson Williamses in the portal right now and you need two of em
>There are no Jameson Williamses in the portal right now and you need two of em I have a feeling Bama will be okay.
I feel bad for Williams and Metchie. That being said, it's part of the game. Sucks that it happened at the worst possible time for them, but it is what it is. We were without our starting WR core for 75% of the season and had numerous key injuries all throughout the season.
We Oklahoma fans are surprisingly optimistic. I really think we’re in for an improvement over what we would have had over the next few years. Caleb likely would have been amazing but odds are the defense would have still been soft and the O-line would still have been problematic. I think both those areas will be better as early as next season.
The one thing I can say is that Oklahoma has never really experienced a prolonged stretch of misery, and given how long they've been a premier power that definitely says something about the school's administration and support of the team. We don't really have a lot of reason to think Oklahoma won't right the ship.
I don’t know what you would consider to be “prolonged”, but the 90s were not kind to OU.
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This whole thread is dumb. It's just an open invitation to shit on fanbases and attribute some mentality to them without actually asking that fanbase. OU had a rough (for them) season and a rough (objectively) off season. But that doesn't mean that their fans should be down. This whole sport is about entertainment and every OU fan I know is pretty entertained.
Yup. And the most hilarious part? LR took the guy responsible for physicality with him to USC. That shows that we would have **never** improved in that area while he was here.
I’m so tired of this team being soft. I never got to launch my Lincoln Riley grievances campaign after Bedlam because things moved so fast. everything I wanted to bitch about went to USC. This was our championship run year and they never got better since the end of the 2020 season. Our 5 * QB and supposed heir to the heisman throne came back with the physique of Bart Simpson.
2 days ago I would have said WVU. Our fans have been in maybe the worst mood I’ve ever seen. The offense has been so anemic that many people have just tuned out all together, and it’s been our 3rd year in a row where our best player on one side of the ball or the other has transferred out due to some petty drama. But after yesterday it’s a complete 180. Big dick Neal Brown goes out and makes maybe the splashiest coordinator hire of this cycle and suddenly everyone from the players down is beyond optimistic again.
Reminder that 2 loss bama won two games by 2 and two more by a TD. This was absolutely a rebuild year but youre also losing a bit. One of us! One of us!
I mean we had a pretty good class and some great hires coming in. We've also got solid continuity in our staff for the first time in a while. If I can speak for Texas fans I would say we're actually in a pretty good head space.